Our Vision

Exchanging ideas to nurture and grow the jazz community.

Jazz at Lincoln Center produces Jazz Congress, an annual conference designed to bring together artists, media and industry leaders in the global jazz community to exchange ideas in order to nurture and grow the jazz community and the underlying business and organizations that promote, produce, present, market and support the music.

“Jazz at Lincoln Center is excited to host this much needed community initiative. We will stimulate an inclusive environment, explore new ways to expand audiences for our music, and learn from one another,” said Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center. “With so much discordant non communication around the world and in our country, now is the perfect time for us to come together for serious discourse around and about our cultural, business and aesthetic objectives. Jazz has what our modern world needs. Let us all take pride in our collective advocacy of this great music by identifying, declaring and demonstrating our common ground.”  

The conference was co-produced in association with JazzTimes from 2018 to 2021.  After a hiatus in 2022 and 2023, the Jazz Congress returns as a one-day event on January 11, 2024.

In 2024, Jazz Congress will collaborate with Winter Jazzfest in honor of its 20th anniversary.